Domestic turkey

Welcome all to a day in CRM archaeology in Texas! Today the heat is West Texas has reached over 104°F. My crew is currently working on surveying a large 4,000 acre area where a potential reservoir will be located. Our day starts off in the cooler hours, with breakfast at 6:00 AM and to work by 7:00 AM. We began by laying out transects using a Trimble Unit within previously portioned off grid squares.

Then it is on to shovel testing, which as all those who have experience in this know that it is very hard work. Shovel test units in Texas are generally 30 CM X 30 CM and go to depths of 80 CM.

Around 9:30 AM we take a well deserved snack break, which today includes some yummy summer sausage (venison). Sadly, a few crew members were unable to partake in the break since they were attending to one of the many flat tires we have had so far in the seven weeks of work.

Of course, we do have time to take in the lovely West Texas scenery between shovel tests!

We generally end our work day around 2:00 PM due to the heat. Today we did not find any cultural materials but we are still in high spirits! At least we got to see a few wild hogs, wild turkeys and a lone coyote!